Marist Students Get Sneak Peak at Super Bowl Ads

Marist students in attendance for the Super Bowl Commercials viewing party. Credit: Nelson Echeverria/Marist College

While most fans first saw this year's slate of Super Bowl ads during the Kansas City Chiefs overtime defeat of the San Francisco 49ers on Feb. 11, Marist College students had the chance to watch and rate them beforehand.

As a part of this year’s USA Today’s Super Bowl Ad Meter, students were allowed to see Super Bowl ads ahead of the game. In addition to their early access, participants were invited to a viewing party to watch the commercials together.

“It was so much fun, meeting so many new people, seeing some old faces, just being able to come together and watch these awesome ads as a preview,” said Maya Perera ‘27. “It was such a unique experience.”

A few weeks in advance, Anthony Proia, Marist’s director of media relations, visited countless classes to give his pitch to students interested in potentially taking part in the event. 

“We were just trying to get as much participation as possible with some students from all over the place, as far as the marketing, sports communication, communication or public speaking students,” said Proia.

His relentless advertising ultimately netted over 200 student participants. Those who participated were provided a link on the Wednesday before the Super Bowl, where they could see most of the 60 new ads created for the game. They were asked to rank each ad on a one to 10 scale based on how much they enjoyed watching it.

The results and data were used to help USA Today get a jump start on their yearly “Ad Meter Replay Ratings” article. This year, the 36th annual edition was released on Feb. 12, one day after the game. 

The ad meter featured star power at the top of the list. Coming in first with an average score of 6.68 was State Farm’s commercial featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito. Not too far behind, in second place with a score of 6.52, was the Dunkin Donuts “DunKings” commercial, which also ranked highly amongst Marist students.

“I thought it was funny to bring all the Boston guys together to make it,” said James Tsiantoulas ‘25. “The whole ‘Boston runs on Dunkin’ mantra is what gets a lot of us Bostonians going, so having the prime faces of the city all together was great to see.”

The star-studded ad featured Boston icons Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Tom Brady, and famous musicians Jennifer Lopez, Jack Harlow and Fat Joe and earned the highest-rated score amongst Marist students.

Marist’s involvement in this year's ad meter can be credited to Class of 1999 alumna Lark-Marie Anton, the chief communications officer for Gannett/USA Today Network.

“We reached out to notable institutions that we felt would be great inaugural participants,” said Anton. “I’m biased as a Red Fox and wanted to have my Alma Mater included.”

Once Marist was chosen, Proia got to work, pitching the intriguing opportunity to students. Being a part of research to be used in a publication as noteworthy as USA Today appealed to students of all majors.

“Being a communications major and advertising minor, it was really cool to see all the ads and take some inspiration off what I would be doing for my future career,” said Nikki Tedesco ‘25.

The demographics of college students are extremely valuable, as the younger the audience, the more impressionable they are. For college students, this is when they make brand attachments that could last a lifetime, making their opinions on each commercial invaluable.